The Internet of Things has delivered on its promises perhaps faster than any buzzword in recent memory: by 2014, we hit a milestone of more connected devices than people in the world, and we’ve shown no sign of slowing down. By 2020, we’re likely to have 50 billion IoT devices deployed. These devices and services are in use across all industries—from smart cities, energy, and agriculture to transportation, healthcare, and home monitoring. According to CrunchBase, at least $1.94B is being invested in startups whose core business models rely on enabling the Internet of Things. In 2017, this space remains one of the most promising for continued American innovation and entrepreneurship. But there are also no shortage of obstacles for this trend.
Chief amongst these obstacles is ensuring that there is a sufficient amount of wireless spectrum available to meet the exponentially increasing demand for it. Spectrum powers everything from mobile phones, to Wi-Fi networks, to the sensors embedded in the increasing number of devices we’d like to be networked. There’s just one small issue—spectrum is a finite resource, the vast majority of which is held (and often underutilized) by the government. It is estimated that federal agencies hold between 60 and 70 percent of the spectrum best suited for broadband technologies.
But there’s a bright spot here: two years ago, the Federal Communications Commission, along with interested parties that included many startups, created the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), a rule that would open up the 3550-3650 MHz band of spectrum to anyone, or any company, to create their own wireless backbone between Wi-Fi access points. The 3.5 GHz band is already allocated to shipborne navigation and military radar systems, posing an obvious problem to any wireless broadband system using this spectrum. So technologists proposed a novel solution: use the power of computing and sensing to act like spectrum “traffic cops,” directing shared wireless traffic to get the most out of a limited amount of spectrum. And two years ago, the FCC unanimously endorsed the creation of the CBRS.
This is a first-of-its-kind system—and one that the world is watching with interest. These services would be primarily unlicensed or ‘lightly licensed’ services, meaning that an operator will not be required to buy and permanently own spectrum. The spectrum would be shared with different priority to traffic based on who is trying to use it. Existing Department of Defense and satellite users would have first access, followed by a priority access layer where licenses to small geographic areas are granted to operators for a several year period. Once these users had been given access, general access technologies like Wi-Fi would be able to use the spectrum. For the first time, startups (or even venues, hotels, or other business owners) could have a “micro-license” for spectrum, removing a key barrier to entry for building certain parts for the Internet of Things. And the Spectrum Access System or “SAS” database creates the Uber of spectrum: you can call on it when you need it.
For the last two years, the public and private sector have worked toward sorting out the technical issues necessary to move forward. They have a common incentive: getting the system right is certain to speed up the implementation of small cell and other technologies instrumental for IoT. These technologies will be using the 3.5 GHz spectrum to increase capacity and extend coverage of wireless services. And companies are ready and eager to make use of this spectrum.
Now, the FCC needs to expedite implementation of this world-leading spectrum sharing framework, and resist making major changes that would undermine existing investments and ongoing innovations. For the IoT to continue to grow and expand, and for innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups to have the tools that they need to be successful in this space, we need to be sure that groundbreaking systems like CBRS move forward, and move forward quickly. These things aren’t going to connect themselves.
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